Course XLI - Teaching 10: Overcoming Fear

The astral body forms protective vortexes around the physical body, particularly concentrated on the splenic plexus. These vortexes mean certain restriction: they do not permit the man to leave the circle traced to sustain his personality, and his system just becomes accessible to those indispensable forces to sustain his being, his mental expansion and his spiritual development.
The man that can manage his Control Wheel at will is totally self-possessed because he shall only admit forces that can keep a perfect balance among all their parts, physically, mentally and spiritually. Fear influences the man and blocks the access of cosmic forces strange to his intimacy. A man with no fear cannot be cautious; a man with no fear cannot strive for his wellbeing and protection against danger and disease. In short, in the early times of human development, fear was a teacher who forced a self-search in all beings; for fear to death, man found the existence of a future life; for fear of death, man learnt to guard against danger and to foster this civilization that we enjoy today. For this fear, the one-time controller, today became the Threshold specter, like an enemy blocking one’s way and saying, “You won’t pass”.
A disciple who wants to acquire astral and spiritual powers must be owner of his fear and of the Control Wheel.
Fear is like a light and beneficial toxic: it permits the access of a negative cosmic wave to the Control Wheel, which shakes and keeps him alert. But like a toxic that in small quantity is harmless, fear permits the access to the Control Wheel of big quantities of negative waves that destroy the individual being.
Not only fear enters the Control Wheel, but also every wave contributing to sustain the individual being.
A disciple governs these forces with right will and constant exercise, and just permits the access of all those forces that are more necessary to sustain his balance. A man can attract that which he wishes and reject that which is troublesome when this power is quite developed: an emblem of this is the sword on the left femur of knights, and according to Hindus, one removes the enemies through the spleen. This power not only removes external forces, but also permits the man to lead outside his astral body and soar over other areas.
This center forms clear and shining vortexes around the astral body, but when this center is in deficit, slow waves permeate it and form stains, folds and blurs.
There is the source of physical, nervous and mental diseases that particularly are a negative current concentrated and expecting the due moment to infiltrate into the physical body and to destroy it partially or totally.